Laying Pipe
by Cassiesmum02
Summary: So I hated that Opie died, I wrote my own version of how I would have liked that episode to go.
1. Chapter 1

Jax looks around the three of his brothers that have followed him into the tiny room, the safety glass beside them reflecting back the image of the four men in orange jumpsuits and blackness beyond while Damon Pope's words echo in his mind. Running like a catch phrase from a horror movie "I need the life of a Son to pay this debt. It's your choice who."

Chibs looks over at Jax with a frown "You okay?"

Jax nods "Yeah." His eyes darting between his brothers, the men who would give their lives for him and who he would give his life foor.

Tig takes a nervous step back, knowing that this must be because of him. "You, ahh, find out what's going on?"

Jax nods, his mouth twisting into a cross between a sad smile and a grimace "Pope wants one of us dead."

Chibs swallows loudly "Jesus Christ."

Jax silently agrees but Tig takes a half step forwards "Me."

Shaking his head Jax turns at looks at the SAA "No. No, you he wants alive and inside, forever."

"Right, so how do we handle this Jackie?" Chibs asks, his forehead creased.

Jax locks eyes with each of the three other orange clad med "I don't give a shit who Pope is. Or how deep his reach is, he doesn't make that call. We decide our fate."

The door they filed through opens again and one of the screws comes in, two more coming in behind him with malicious smirks on their faces.

"Am I choosing or you?"

Jax shakes his head, meeting the eyes of the men with him. Tig who started it all but would give his life for any of them and who watched his own daughter brutally murdered, Chibs who has managed to keep Jax smiling most of the time through all of this shit that keeps coming and Opie; his brother-from-another-mother. His true north, the point of his moral compass who always has the words to calm him down and make him engage his brain.

"My call." Jax says, taking a half step forwards, only to be yanked backwards by one of Opie's arms as Tig throws a punch that knocks the head guard on his ass, blood pouring from his nose.

The guard lurches to his feet and towards Tig, stopping a hairs breath from him "You gotta death wish?"

Tig laughs in the face of the guard "Maybe I do but I don't think your pussy ass could deal anything near what I can take, but then your bum buddies couldn't either. Tell me, do you have to help them find their dicks, or do you just keep them in your pocket so you can always play with them?"

Jax, Chibs and Opie fall completely silent, watching the expressions cross the faces of all the guards, shock that Tig would speak to them that way, anger at what he said and then a horrible expression of malice as they grab his arms, pulling him from the room. Jax and Opie share a quick look, wondering if the guards had already forgotten the order to leave Tig alive.

Tig is shoved into the room on the other side of the glass, the lights turning on and illuminating it to be an old inmate shower, bare concrete walls and a couple of tap ends sticking out of the walls.

The head guard throws something at Tig with a smirk "Make it interesting." The pipe that lands at Tigs feet isn't long, isn't particularly strong looking but Tig picks it up with a grin, spinning it on his palm "Oh how sweet, do I get to jam this up your ass when I'm finished?"

The guard steps forwards, the restraining hand of one of his backup stopping him making Tig laugh loudly in the enclosed space "See, your boyfriend knows that it won't be pretty. You better bring some lube."

All three guards back out of the room, the door hanging open for a few seconds before it's filled again, four men walking through with lengths of chain and another couple of the bars like what Tig is still holding.

There's a long pause while all three Sons look through the glass, their hands against the window, each of their faces showing horror at what they're about to see. The four men surround Tig, his body almost dwarfed by the biggest one, each of the other three not far off his size.

Two of the smaller men lunge towards Tig and with one massive swing the bar in his hands smacks them first in the face, the second barely having time to lift the length of chain and try to swing it before he's being smacked over the top of the head with the pipe. With two men already down and counting birdies the other two look at each other, the cockiness in their eyes vanishing.

The pair part, one coming to stand on the other side of Tig, barely looking down at his unconscious companion. Both of them lurch toward Tig at the same time, the bar catching the bigger one in a glancing blow off his elbow but before Tig can reaim his arms are caught and pinned behind him.

A sadistic smile crosses the face of the huge man now standing in front of a completely immobilised Tig until Tig grins towards the window, waiting till the man is within arm's reach, lifting his feet he pushes off the chest of the huge man, the leverage sending both him and the man who's now supporting his whole weight backwards.

Even through the glass Jax, Opie and Chibs hear the impact, the thick cracking noise when one of the exposed pieces of pipe breaks through the bones of the mans back. His arms go limp and Tig bounces forwards, finally freeing his hands. Clenching them into fists he chuckles "Just us now."

The door slams open and the guard comes in "Hold it!"

All movement around the rooms stop, apart from the puddle of red that's spreading out between the impaled mans feet. The two unconscious men are picked up by two of the guards and carried out of the room, the giant glaring at Tig before shrugging in a nonchalant way and following the exodus.

Tig disappears from sight with the head guard, the two of them appearing back in the door of the room. Jax almost falls over his own feet in his rush to check his brother and make sure he's okay, the guard clearing his throat bringing his attention back to the present.

"Come on Teller."

Jax stops, his eyes locking with each of the men around the room "What?"

"Mr Pope would like to see you again."

Jax frowns but follows the guard through the empty hallways back to the immaculate office where he'd been told he had to sentence one of his brothers to death.

Finding Pope behind the huge desk Jax crosses and drops into the chair opposite him, staring into the expressionless face.

The room is completely quite for a very long time before Damon Pope rises, brushing the front of his suit flat and walking around the desk, perching on the edge of it. "It's not very often Mr Teller that I…re-evaluate my decisions, however something was brought to my attention that made me think."

Jax stays completely silent waiting for the other shoe to fall on whatever it is that this business gangster has planned.

"I was made aware that while killing one of your members would make you feel the same sorrow as I do for the death of my dear Veronica it will not bring her back, and you will not feel the same grief as I do for the loss of a child. So I have changed my mind."

Jax's heart stops, his thoughts immediately going to Thomas and Abel, fear for his children cracking his composure.

Pope laughs "Oh, don't worry I don't want your children. Beautiful as they are, would you like to see a recent photo?" Reaching into his pocket he pulls a square out, passing it over to Jax "They really are like you aren't they." The image in his hands shows his boys being walked into the day care at the hospital, the calendar in the background displaying that days date.

"So you see from this that I can get your children whenever I want, but as I said I do not want them. No, I'm going to get my satisfaction another way."

"How?" Jax almost whispers, his eyes still tracing his children.

"I'm getting there Mr Teller. Patience. First, I need you as the president of your little club so I can get what I want. But I don't need your friends, those three that you came in. By the time you get back to your cell they will each have been dealt with."

Jax's face pales, his brain throwing images of each of them with various life threatening injuries making Pope laugh again "Oh, they will live. I know your little club's rules though. Can't ride, can't vote and I fear that each of them will do everything they can to sabotage this relationship. So you will find each of them has an injury which will keep them from being anywhere near the controls of a motor vehicle for some time. Mr Trager I fear will never walk right again."

Circling back to the other side of the desk he sits back down, looking over the expanse of wood "That's all."

Feeling like he's being dismissed from the principal's office Jax gets to his feet slowly, the door opening as he reaches it. The guard that brought him up smirks "You'll be released in several hours, your buddies are already gone. I'm afraid there was a riot which resulted in each of them getting quite seriously injured."

The cell where Opie and Jax had been locked up is open, all evidence of there having been two people in the tiny room absent.

The door slams closed behind Jax and he starts pacing, each step bringing another gory thought into his brain, another way that each of his friends could be being hurt, each turn he thanks whatever powers that be that his boys are fine, and that if Pope goes by his word each of his brothers will be fine but the macabre ways of causing bodily harm that Jax is well aware of keep invading his micor-second of peace.

Hours later the door swings open again and a different guard looks in with a smile "You're free to go."

Jax follows the officer through the corridors till they reach the outer doors, the cage like part between them the space where Jax is handed back his belongings and allowed to strip out of the horrible blue corrections outfit he'd been in. The door opens to sunlight and the first thing Jax sees is his mother on the other side of the car park, her Caddy behind her.

Striding across the lot he hugs her tightly "Where's Tara?"

"I don't know baby." Gemma opens the back door "But I have the boys, she didn't pick them up after day care."

Jax frowns, leaning in and kissing both his sons gratefully before looking back at his mother "Ma, do you know where the guys are?"

Gemma nods "Yeah, the guard told me they're at the hospital. What the fuck happened Jackson?"

Jax shakes his head, striding around the car and into the driver's seat "I don't know but I need to see them."

Gemma silently climbs into the passenger seat, buckling her seat belt as the tyres on her car scream loudly with the force Jax uses to accelerate away from the building of concrete and wire. The normally 20 minute drive to the hospital takes less than 10 and Jax slides into a car park right by the door, ignoring the irate yelling and horn honking of the person who's park he's just stolen, fixing a glare at the woman who's screaming her mouth snaps shut when she finally takes in the patch across his back.

Lifting Thomas from his car seat he taps his foot impatiently while Abel is lifted out and Gemma mucks around with the pushchair, finally getting both boys into it and Jax's patience reaches its limits. "Do you know where they are?"

Gemma shakes her head "No, but I'll find out. You wait out here for 5 minutes baby. Have a smoke, you look like you could use one."

Glaring at her she simply lifts her eyebrow and hands him her pack and a lighter. Jax sighs and lights a cigarette, Gemma stealing a couple of drags before squaring her shoulders and marching towards the door, the pushchair in front of her.

The 5 minutes pass excruciatingly slowly for Jax, he watches two ambulances arrive in the back from different directions and five cars leave the car park before he shakes his head and strides towards the front door.

Gemma's just stepping back from the counter with a smile when he appears at her side "Did you find out anything?"

Gemma nods, pushing the pushchair towards the lift "I did. All three of them arrived 4 hours ago. Opie and Chibs are already in rooms, Tig's in surgery."

"What!" Jax stops in the middle of the hallway until his mother pulls him forwards with a sigh.

"They put them both in the same room; I have the number so if you move we can go see them." Gemma says softly "And I found out some info about Tig."

The trip up in the elevator seems to take forever, the dinging on each floor making Jax want to scream by the time they reach the 4th floor and they both exit the metal box. Gemma looks at the numbers above the doors as she strides down the hall, stopping at the fourth one from the lifts and setting her hand on the handle she turns her gaze to her son.

"You gotta keep a lid on your shit, okay?" Jax barely nods, brushing past her and into the room.

Chibs and Opie are on opposite sides of the room, the space for two more beds empty at the moment. Chibs is the first to look towards the door, his face calming when he sees Jax and Gemma.

"Jackie boy. We were starting to wonder what the fuck happened to you." The relief in his voice is obvious, as is the amount of pain killers he must be one, each word runs into the one before making it even hard to decipher what he's saying.

Opie pushes himself up off the bed, slightly less drugged up looking then his Scottish roommate. "Thank fuck! None of those assholes would tell us what happened." He pauses, looking at Gemma then back at Jax "What did happen?"

Jax looks over his shoulder at his mother "Ma, would you mind getting the kids a drink. All five of us, and maybe something for Tiggie too?"

Gemma spins on her heel huffing out a long breath "Fine I'll tell you what I know when I come back."

Jax waits till the door swings closed, moving further into the room "Pope decided that taking a life wasn't enough, something about we'd get over the death of a brother faster than he would a child." Opie sucks in a breath and looks in the direction Gemma's just gone "Yeah bro, my thoughts exactly but he said he didn't want my kids. His punishment was that each of you got whatever the fuck he did to you. Using our rules against us, can't ride, can't vote and he knows after that shit it would only take you three to vote against anything and we wouldn't do it. Now what the fuck happened to you?"

Opie coughs, sitting up a little straighter "I got taken back to the cell, I guess these guys did to. We were all told we'd be leaving soon while we were on the way but instead of being locked in that huge black guy showed up and smashed me over the back of the head. I woke up here."

Chibs chuckles painfully "Yeah it was almost like that, but instead of one we got four. I took one of 'em out before I was knocked down, I heard Tig scream and that was it. Ditto to the waking up here."

Jax looks at each of them, really wishing that Tara was there to read their charts and tell him what the fuck was wrong with his brothers. "Do we know what happened?"

Each of them shakes their heads, gesturing towards their beds "Apart from the casts we've both inherited no fucken clue bro." Opie says with a grimace.

A soft knock at the door announces Gemma's return, she sticks her head in "Am I good to come back?"

"Sure Ma." Jax says, pushing away from the wall and holding the door open for the pushchair.

Gemma takes the chair beside Opie's bed and smiles at him "Anyone asks, I'm your Mother, that helped the mouthy ER nurse I found down at reception talk. Who wants to know their list of wounds first?"

"Tig. What's wrong with him. These guys we can see are okay." Jax says, locking eyes with his mother as she frowns.

"They build those Tragers tough baby. He's got a broken left hip, and all three bones in his left leg were broken in multiple places. Right ankle is shattered, that's why he's in surgery, they're trying to piece it together. Left leg will heal fine according to the nurse, he'll always walk with a limp though. These two lugs got off a hell of a lot easier." Gemma turns her gaze to Chibs "You've got a broken ankle and both bones in your lower leg." Turning her head she shrugs "You must have been favourite, all you got was a dislocated ankle. It's in a soft cast as a precaution."

Gemma leans back into her chair "That's the good news. Bad news time. From what Miss Talkative told me, Tig won't be riding anytime in the next year. Chibs you're looking 8 weeks in a cast and then at least another 8 before you can ride, so 4 months. Opie, you got off lightly. 2 weeks in that cast, 1 after that on crutches. You should be good to ride in 8 weeks after physio."

"Fuck." Jax mutters almost at the same time as Chibs whispers "Jesus Christ."

Opie looks over at the both and grins "Could be worse."

Gemma frowns "How do you manage that? That's half SAMCRO knocked out."

Jax wraps his arms around her shoulders and squeezes "It could be worse in that one of them could be dead."

Gemma's head snaps towards his, their eyes locking in silent conversation, Gemma's hand flies to her chest as she gasps. "This, this whole shitstorm is on Clay. He started it all."

"And it will end with him Ma, I promise." Opie growls low in his throat as the door slams open and Lyla all but runs in, three kids on her heels.


	2. Chapter 2

So I realised with the help of a few reviews that I couldn't leave this where I did. This has not been spellchecked other than me re-reading it, my spellcheck isn't working for some reason.

Tig is settled in the room a little over an hour later when Jax realises he still has no idea why Tara didn't pick up the boys from day care. Pulling out his cell phone he rings her office number first wondering if she was still at work, the phone at the other end ringing for almost 2 minutes before he gives up and hangs up. Trying her cell phone next it rings 5 times before the automated message kicks in, Tara's voice advising to leave a message.

"Hey babe, just wondering where you are. Give me a ring and let me know what's up. I'm at Stockton memorial with the boys and Ma. They're fine, Chibs, Tig and Ope aren't as good but I'll tell you what happened when I get home."

Lyla's been glued to Opie's side since she came into the room, the three older kids are sitting on the empty bed reading in books that Gemma had taken them down to get, Abel and Thomas both colouring on the floor inches from their fathers feet, Kenny looks up "Daddy I'm hungry."

"Me too." Ellie echoes, sitting up and pushing her book to the side.

Lyla leans down and kisses Opie one last time, his hand coming up and tangling in her hair holding her in place for several seconds. Their lips part and from where he's standing Jax can see Opie whispering words to her, her head moving slightly as she nods.

Standing straight she looks over at the kids and grins "Right you three, Chuck E Cheese?"

"Yay!" All three of them bounce off the bed and wiggle into jackets straight away, Ellie and Kenny stopping to kiss their father, Piper smiling over in a slightly sullen way at the freedom the two other kids feel in climbing up onto the edge of the bed and squeezing Opie's neck.

Gemma gets to her feet and scoops Abel up "Hold up, I'll follow you, these two need to be in bed. Baby you ready?" Looking over at Jax he nods, still staring down at his phone.

Taking a long look at each of his brothers on their hospital beds he smiles, the first relaxed expression that's crossed his face since his first meeting that morning with Damon Pope. "If you guys need anything, anything at all, let me know."

Opie laughs, waving his hand "Just make sure that we get a constant stream of visitors, and decent food. Hospital shit won't cut it bro."

Gemma chuckles "I'll take care of the food side, Jackson you make sure that everyone else comes to see these guys."

"Yes Ma." Jax replies, patting Opie on his uninjured foot. "I'll be back tomorrow."

Following the women and children back out of the room Jax keeps silently thanking whatever powers that be that his brothers are all alive to see the morning. The trip down to the car park is a noisy elevator ride, the kids all babbling about pizza toppings, the argument between Ellie and Kenny that has been heard more times than anyone can count about pineapple on pizza makes Jax laugh, the normalcy of their bickering soothing his strained nerves slightly.

Gemma gets into the drivers seat of her Caddy, shaking her head at Jax "You're exhausted baby, I love you but I'm not letting you drive when you look like you're about to fall asleep."

Jax nods, silently agreeing with her assessment, his eyes have been feeling heavy since Tig was brought into the room. Double and then triple checking the car seats in the back and the straps are all securely fastened before he pretty much falls into the passenger's seat. Leaning his head against the head rest of the car his hand tightens on the phone in his hand, the concern for Tara slamming forefront into his mind.

The ride is silent, Gemma follows Lyla till she pulls into Chuck E Cheese, hands appearing out of the window, waving as Gemma passes. Four blocks later she turns into a drive thru and hands Jax a bag with a smirk "Eat. There's some chicken nuggets in there for the boys. I'm trusting them not to get sauce on the seats." Gemma looks over at Jax's incredulous expression, bursting into laughter "I'm kidding baby, it's leather, it'll clean. Just feed them, and yourself."

Jax passes the box of nuggets back to Abel, passing one to Thomas who immediately jams it in his mouth and starts chewing. "Guess they were hungry."

"No shit."

The kids have finished their dinner and both are sleeping by the time Gemma turns into the driveway, the whole house is dark and Tara's cutlass is missing from the drive. Jax picks up his phone from his lap trying both her numbers again and still getting no answer. His mind starts wondering if Pope has something to do with Tara being MIA, the photo of the her and the kids taken that morning looked completely normal but anything could have happened after the button was pressed to take the photo. Gemma lifts Thomas from his seat and follows Jax who's carrying Abel, both boys being taken straight to their rooms and put to bed.

"You want me to stay baby?" Gemma asks, grabbing Jax's hand just before he can leave the room.

"Nah, I'm gonna try Tara again and then maybe ring the hospital and ask if they know where she is. There's camera's right through that place so if she was taken they'd know I'm sure." Jax says, hugging his mother tightly. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Gemma nods once, lifting her hands to the sides of Jax's face and kissing him lightly "I'm glad your home."

"Me to Ma." Standing with the door open Jax watches till Gemma reaches her car, the engine starting and the car moving out of the drive before he steps back and closes the door.

Jax walks slowly around the house again, pulling Abel's shoes off his feet and dropping them to the floor, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his forehead. Kissing Thomas' forehead as well he lifts the covers over his arms and turns both lights off. Opening the door to the master bedroom it takes a second for the differences his brain can see to register. "What the fuck?"

Walking around the room Jax pushes draws closed, and slides the wardrobe door over, the gap where Tara's hairbrush should be suddenly obvious, along with the empty draws that used to contain her clothes.

Backtracking to the kitchen he snatches his phone off the counter as he passes, dialing Tara's cell number again. Waiting till the machine kicks in he tries to keep the fear from his voice "Tara, I just got home with the boys. Where the fuck are you?"

Closing the phone Jax breaths slowly through his nose while his phone sits completely silent in front of him. Pulling a beer from the fridge his frown deepens when he finds an envelope in there leaning up against the bottle, his name scrawled across the front in Tara's hurried writing.

Putting the beer back he walks slowly through to the living room, sitting down heavily onto the sofa he turns the letter over, breaking the seal on the back he pulls the pages out. The single page of Tara's official office stationary covered in her writing.

_Jax,_

_You have to burn this when you've read it, then you have to try and move on._

_I'm so sorry I had to leave. Damon Pope came to see me today and told me everything. Tig killed his daughter and he demanded the suffering of SAMCRO in return. I don't know why Tig did it, I didn't ask for any reason. I was given an ultimatum, one where we both lost regardless of which choice I made but I made the same decision that I know you would have._

_My options were to leave Charming today, take what I could and disappear into the wind without my children or stay in Charming with you but have to live for the rest of my life without Abel or Thomas. Pope was fully prepared to kill one of them if I didn't agree to leave you and them. I couldn't do it, I had to leave to save our boys, and even if I'd stayed I would not have been able to look at Tig ever again without wanting to kill him._

_I love you, I have loved you since I was 16, I will love you for the rest of my life but I can't stay and watch my boys, either of them, suffer for something I could have stopped. Tell Abel and Thomas about me and how much I loved them both. Tell them anything you like about me, but please please please, whatever you do do not let them get sucked into the life you have it would kill me to know that I saved their life now for the patch you wear to take them. SAMCRO has taken everything from me, please don't let it take everything from you. Our boys need a better future then this._

_Love always,_

_Tara._

The letter in his hand crumples as his heart shatters, lifting his lighter he ignites the corner, watching as her words go up in smoke, his mind cycling through a hundred possibilites of ways to stop this from happening, ways to bring Tara back to him and his children who need their mother as much as he does.


End file.
